Squirelly Earth Day

What the hell is wrong with people? Why do many feel the need to alter the natural world? Nature is causing no harm. Yet to some, Nature seems to be not orderly enough, or producing enough, or sophisticated enough or giving us enough.

Today I'm watching the squirrels take bunches of last fall's dead leaves off the oak trees and take them to their nests at the tip top of the fir trees by my mailbox. The tops of these trees are so thick, you cannot see into them. But the squirrels go up with their dead leaves and come back down without them. So, I know a high-rise is in progress. 

And in my watching, I see all the order, production,  sophistication, and the gift.

Happy Earth Day

I Just Don't Feel It

Sunlight peeks through the trees

With the Winter Solstice, the light has returned. Or so the calendar tells me. My senses say something different. I cannot feel or see the change. I can only hope, imagine and pretend it is so. I have a knowing, of course, about the return of light. I've lived long enough in the North to trust my years of proof. But now, with not enough to accomplish all I want in one day, I'm feeling deceived. 

Every fall, I look forward to winter. This winter, I say, I'll read more books, wade through more documents to preserve or toss, clean out this closet or that drawer, work on the family tree, learn to... well you get the idea. And then every winter, with the imperceptible decline and then return of light, I find myself unmotivated. Even the usually inspirational creek sluggishly moves toward its destination seemingly without aim or purpose. I might as well be in hibernation. 

"The hardest thing about hibernation is convincing yourself it's time to wake up."

The Wrong Lesson From The Creek

I've just discovered that author Stephen Payseur is using the name of this blog, Lessons From The Creek, for a book he wrote in 2013. That's fine, I suppose. I did not copyright "Lessons From The Creek" when I created it in 1999. However, there is one thing I must clarify.

My Lessons From The Creek is thoroughly secular. I have never introduced religion in my writing. Nor do I intend to. I write of nature and the inspiration that comes from the natural world. According to one reviewer,  Mr Payseur's book gives "readers gentle encouragement toward Christian growth."

Please, please, do not mistake my writings for something religious. Mr Payseur and I are not at all aligned. My opinion is that religion, and especially Christian religion, keeps us from knowing ourselves. And further, as a woman, I find religion most often oppressive, limiting and dangerous to my life and livelihood.

Have a wonderful holiday season.

Deb, Lessons From The Creek

Out-of-Sorts Sorting

I have been sorting through my ancestor’s leavings, piece by piece by bloody piece. For years! All left for me to sort, donate, sell, or find the unknown relative who would want the item. The other day. I decided to tackle photos and letters. This was interesting, if not productive, until I moved into the mid-1800s and the Civil War became the focus. This photo was taken just before the "cousins" left for the war. It appears they all mustered in August, 1862. My challenge was identifying them. The person who named the individuals on the cardboard back, described each of the six as “Cousin Jim,” “Brother Jim,” “Cousin Ike”, etc. My dilemma was, just who did the labeling? If I knew that, the task would have been much easier. And so I am, once again, sidetracked in my attempt to catalogue and dispose.

 Overwhelmed by the research involved with this Civil War photo, I move on to some correspondence. And once again I was cruising along nicely until I came to the Civil War letters. Now just where or to whom should these go? I would have to read them to find out. But they were too depressing. Many of the letters were written by women who were maybe more grieved than their husbands and sons. Or perhaps just better at expressing their feelings.

I feel such agitation working my way through all this “stuff.” My parents just packed it all away and left it to me and my brothers. My brothers simply turned tail and ran. I try to look at what might be the advantageous angle of taking on this burden of all my ancestors. Why did I, who has always been the one to keep possessions and collections to a minimum, inherit the chore? It does not seem that this is my lesson. Right? It’s a lot of family energy that is not mine.

Now for those of you who are tempted to suggest reasons for this or benefits to me, don’t! I will snap back. I’m just venting. Unless you are a relative who wants some of this. In that case, I'm very happy to hear from you. Thanks for listening.